


Being Human

by MagicKaitō1412 (naosuki)



Series: Impetuous Souls [18]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Flashbacks, Gen, Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid Needs a Hug, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Post-Black Organization Takedown (Meitantei Conan), Reading the manga is not necessary as context will be provided, Robotics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:26:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24616774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naosuki/pseuds/MagicKait%C5%8D1412
Summary: He is practically holding Kurobot's heart and mind in his hands - his soul, if you so will.In keeping it with him, he ensured the other's survival.------------------------------A sort-of fix-it-fic for the happenstances in The Clockwork Heart.This is part of a series but can be read as a stand-alone (as always).Story plays two years after Kaito became KID.
Relationships: Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid & Nakamori Aoko, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Impetuous Souls [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1517900
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PokiStix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PokiStix/gifts), [DetectiveOfTheEast](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DetectiveOfTheEast/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ever since I started writing for DCMK, I wanted to bring Kurobot back.  
> I've had plans to do so since February, though never quite got to the point where I'd actually write something. . .  
> Until [a friend of mine](https://twitter.com/Brotato_Chibs) decided to make some wonderful art (´ ε ` )♡ 
> 
> Cue me pushing my plans ahead (despite being in the middle of exams).  
> Please do check out her wonderful art if you haven't already!

_Just after his classes ended, Kaito decided to stay at the gate. Once again, he is waiting for Aoko, planning to walk home together, as they so often do, but as fate would so have it, things don't go as planned. Not only does Ahoko not appear, no, even worse, there is a sharp and distinct pain in the back of Kaito's head, as if someone hit him with a rubber mallet - he likely_ **_did_ ** _hit him with that, in retrospect - and seconds later, he passes out, the words "Such a healthy young fellow," ringing in his ears._

_Kaito comes to a few times, though his vision is blurry, and he can barely make out what is happening. He remembers entering a strange building - the Ogami Electronics Laboratory, his brain helpfully suggests - with parabolic antennas, various towers, and even an astral observatory, though not much else. His vision fades to black._

_The next time he opens his eyes, he's strapped to a table, hands and legs restrained, and he vaguely comprehends that he must have been drugged, feeling sluggish and dazed. A helmet squeezes his skull, and a throbbing headache begins to form in an instant. It hurts so much, he immediately faints._

_There's a loud crash at some point, and Kuroba wonders if that mad scientist - Ogami? - fell. Seconds later, his vision fades, once again, back to black. At least the throbbing pain is gone. When he finally opens his eyes again, a day seems to have passed. It's eerily quiet and only the whirring of machines around him, as well as the steady ticking of the clock, keep him company. Kaito is still restrained, but less severely than before. His hands are tied to his back and around a pole, Kuroba himself has been placed on the ground now. The helmet is still attached to his head, but no longer does it threaten to crush his skull. Even his headache has disappeared._

_From his position, the high school magician tries to take a closer look at his surroundings. There are cabinets filled with wires, desks completely covered in what looks to be blueprints, and various computer screens with data running through them - one of which clearly displaying Kaito's own vitals. Well, he's certainly glad to know he's alive._

_The whole room appears to be heavily reinforced, likely to keep from ruining the entire building should an experiment go wrong, and most definitely muffled as well. Crazy old scientists just have to go all out, don't they? He sees half-finished bodies discarded on the ground, burnt and scorched. Failed attempts at creating an android, Kuroba realises, finding the bodies just a little bit unnerving. Okay, scratch that. They're absolutely terrifying._

_The iron door creaks open then, and Kaito is greeted by his own face, his own voice, and if that isn't something._

_"I’ve been expecting you, you fake."_

_The doppelganger seems to be in distress, clenching its fists and practically shouting, "Please tell me! Why do I need to imitate you!? Who am I?"_

_Isn't that interesting?_

_"You’re a robot." Kaito replies._

_"Negative! I'm a human!"_

_Kaito lets out a cold and dry laugh, turning his head to the side. He can't stand looking at his copy right now._

_"Damn that geezer. . . kidnapping me while I’m on my way home from school. . . I've been here since yesterday. . . come to think of it, where’d that old man go?"_

_For a moment, the robot seems to process his request. "He broke."_

_Something snaps inside of Kaito, and he stares right at the. . . the_ **_thing_ ** _that is supposed to be him, sweat running down his skin in cold horror. "Don’t tell me. . . !? You mean you killed him!?"_

_The monster with his face seems shocked, almost even looks small and vulnerable._

_"Why are you upset? He just needs some repairs."_

_He's furious. Terrified. Someone has just died! Has been killed by someone wearing his own face! If this android was made to be like him, then how could he do such a thing? The magician can't keep his voice down, shouting already before he even recognises his own voice leaving his throat._

_"You idiot! Humans and robots are different! Once a human is dead, they can't be fixed!"_

_"Dead? What is dead?" Kaito stares. Did it. . . genuinely not know? "You and the Professor are alike. Scolding me by using words I don’t understand. Yesterday was the same. . . I acted according to my programming, to your data. . . I became the Kaitō KID, did your work for you. . . I did everything just like you would have. So then why. . . why did the Professor become angry? I don't understand. . ."_

_A beeping noise comes from the other Kaito - the Kurobot - as if it were desperately trying to process everything. As if it were desperately trying to understand what it means to be human._

_‘Oh man, why me? If he wanted a human, he could have taken just anyone. . . when I was kidnapped, my memories were probably copied into that thing. . . a robot with a soul? No. . . he was trying to create a human!’_

_"No data. No data." Kurobot - yes, he'll go with that for now, he has to call it_ **_something_ ** _, right? - is holding its head, just like someone would when getting a headache._

_'Well, at least it looks like the Professor didn’t realize that I am the Kaitō KID.'_

_"Insufficient data! Need more data!"_

_A whirring noise echoes through the room, and suddenly, the robot's head leaves its neck, exposing metallic cylinders and wires inside of it, and his head turns at an unnatural angle. The beeping continues._

_"I will now copy the remaining bits of your memories." A monotone voice announces while the robot begins tapping away at a keyboard._

_"So you finally showed your true colours!? You bastard!" Kaito shouts, partly glad that his copy finally revealed itself to be truly just that - a copy of him - and partly genuinely terrified by the sight in front of him. The robot attaches itself to some machinery through a second mouth, one underneath his chin, far from his supposed genuine mouth, and begins processing the high schooler's memories._

_"I’m human! I just require more data, that’s all."_

_The whirring and beeping noises increase, become more desperate. It leaves a bad taste in Kaito's mouth. "This is bad."_

01000010 00001000 11010101 10011011 01010001 01101110 11001111 11111100 11001000

_Kurobot removes the memory transfer helmet after a while, apparently satisfied with the amount of data he acquired, and makes a phone call. Kuroba is genuinely surprised when he finds his doppelganger picking up an actual phone - somehow, he'd assumed the android would just be able to call someone internally, using his programming, but it seems he guessed wrong. Given the context of his monologue, he must have called the Second Division, must have announced a heist. Two days in a row - poor Nakamori-keibu must be worn out._

_Once the fake hangs up, Kaito decides to speak up again, a cocky expression on his face._

_"Do you think you can take my place!? Not possible! A copy is just a copy! As long as I'm around, someone is bound to figure it out!"_

_The robot clicks his face back in place and properly attaches his hands once more, turning away from his original._

_"Of course, I will have to dispose of you, as well as this despicable mansion."_

_"You really think that Kaito can be so easily terminated, don't you?" Unbelievable._

_The robot begins tapping away at some machinery again, barely even giving the high schooler any attention._

_"You have made an error in your analysis._ **_I'm_ ** _Kuroba Kaito!"_

_It has the audacity to announce, an equally cocky expression as Kaito himself had just mere seconds ago on his face. It looks so human now. Less like a machine and much, much more like a real boy. If it weren't for the fact that in its excitement, it let its limbs pop out a little, once more showing the metallic cylinders underneath, the high schooler would have thought he is looking at his twin. Dumbfounded and open-mouthed, he can merely stare._

_44.08 seconds until self-destruction._

_"And as Kaitō KID, I shall take control over the world!"_

_Lucky for Kaito, Kurobot leaves him to his fate. A fatal mistake, given that Kuroba has been trained in the showmanship of world-famous magicians since he was just a little child. Not only that, he has been trained by the greatest magician of all time, Kuroba Toichi, his very own father, himself. Restraints like these are nothing to him. Without much trouble, he finally stands up, then uses his legs to carefully climb up the pole._

_"Stupid tin can," he mutters, "I'll show you," as he stretches out his legs, quickly sliding down the iron while ensuring that he keeps his hands pulled close to his body, effectively causing the rope that binds him to be cut through and snap. "Ow." The landing, however, requires some fine-tuning. God, his ass hurts._

_04.88 seconds until self-destruction._

_With a loud boom, the mansion explodes, parts of it falling into the sea, never to be seen again. Only an echo of what it had once been._

01001111 10001011 01001111 10001011 01001111 10001011 01001111 10001011 01101000 11111011 01100011 01100110

_Graceful like a cat, Kaitō Bot lands on his feet, announcing proudly "I'm Kaitō KID!" with a laugh. It would only be short-lived, however._

_"Are you quite sure about that?" The Sinner in White responds, standing a few feet away on the edge of the skyscraper, a crescent moon in his back. The robot's head whirls around, once again popping up and revealing its mechanical parts, and the double's poker face falls apart in an instant._

_"You!? How is that possible?"_

_The true KID's cape whooshes in the wind, his presence seeming almost magical, nearly impossible, and yet, there he is, in the flesh._

_"Kaitō KID appears when you least expect it. Did you forget to put that into your memory bank, Robot-san?" KID teases, almost sounding like he's flirting, really, and Kurobot lowers its mechanical head._

_It's showtime._

_The robot ruins its suit, revealing, instead of simple elbows, gun muzzles, which immediately begin to shoot at KID. Kuroba skillfully predicts where his clone would shoot, escaping the bullets by jumping and dashing out of the way, before he pulls out his own card gun, firing away at the other's face._

_It splits in half, revealing the endoskeleton on his right side, and yet, it looks so human still. Kaitō Bot has enough, and with a pneumatic hiss, it shows exactly what its made of, revealing even more machine parts and, worst of all, another weapon nestled right in its stomach, right where its navel should be, firing at KID with deadly precision._

_Panic surges through him, and Kuroba shoots off his Ace of Spades card, stopping the flying object in the middle between them, a huge explosion destroying parts of the building. Shit. This is_ **_not_ ** _what he planned for._

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

_"You lose, Kuroba Kaito."_

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Kachink._

_The robot that is still wearing half of his face changes its hand into yet another weapon; A genuine revolver, so unlike Kuroba's own card gun -_ **_deadly_ ** _unlike Kuroba's card gun._

_"Any why is that?"_

_He bluffs, standing on rubble kept in the air by the sheer grace of the gods, all the while facing off with something that no longer seems human. No clothes, no skin, only the endoskeleton of an android that believed itself to be human, and whatever remained of Kaito's own face._

_"Don't tell me you forgot already? All of your movements are programmed within me."_

_It readies its gun. "In other words: I can predict your every move. . . and can execute your movements exactly 0.4 seconds before you do."_

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

_"Damn."_

_Click._

**_Boom_ ** _._

_Pain._

_The android merely scratched him, but it still managed to hit his upper right arm pretty damn well. Blood is running down his wrist now, a stark contrast to the white of his clothes and the ground underneath him, and Kaito can't help but grunt out in pain, his gun dropping to the ground._

_'Poker face. Poker face.'_

_'He might have brought me to the ground, but I can't give up yet.'_

_"It's over. Just give up. You have no chance of winning! Whether you aim at my arm or my leg, I'll shoot through yours first!"_

_'Got’cha!'_

_"Heh. You plan to shoot with your left hand? That's very brave of you. Go ahead and try to aim at my head, then! That will be your last move."_

_Click._

**_Boom_ ** _._

_"Kachink."_

_Kurobot shot itself in the head. It truly managed to predict Kaito's moves, truly managed to fulfill his actions before him, and is now paying the price for it. With a shocked expression, it falls to the ground, smoke and what must be oil pouring from its body._

_"Kuroba Kaito. . . the world only needs one of us." KID breathes out as he slowly gets back on his feet, clutching at his wound._

_A broken metallic skull stares at him, what had formerly been a copy of his own skin now peeled away to display its skeleton and wires, and cogs, and machinery. It's slowly melting away, slowly dying, he finds himself thinking as it- as he sizzles on the ground._

_"Amー Iー goーingー toー die?"_

_Kaito turns away, can no longer look at the blank blue eyes staring back at him, no matter how inhumane they look now._

_"Yes. Or so it seems." He admits._

_"Thenー Iー reaーllyー amー huーman. . . I'm . . . huーman."_

_The smell of smoke increases. Kaito knows the explosion is imminent, knows its life is over. It was supposed to be just a robot, and yet, it believed itself to be human, to be him. It had even taken in his memories, however that was supposed to work, and doesn't that just make it human? He_ **_felt_ ** _._

_Kaito lowers his hat, covering his eyes, and braces for the impact._

**_Boom_** _._

_It’s over. He’s dead._

Kaito jolts up, his entire body shaking, and clutches his chest. It's been over two years now, and still, he's plagued by that same old nightmare. Again, and again, and again, he's seen himself die.

Has seen the android die.

It never becomes any less traumatising. He's hyperventilating, he notices, barely registers in his inner need to be calm and cool and keep a poker face. Always a poker face. Except he is not wearing one now.

Hastily, he turns on the light, nearly falls out of bed in doing so, and tries to calm down. He needs something to ground him in reality, anything.

Kuroba very nearly calls someone, anyone, but it's the middle of the night, and he can't make his problems someone else's, so instead he grabs the bear he'd won back then, together with Aoko, when they went skiing together. It helps. Not by much, but it helps.

After an agonizingly long time, Kaito finally calms down, and slowly, slowly, he trusts himself to stand, to get down to his father's - to **_his_ ** workshop, and opens a drawer.

01010101 10001000 01101010 10001001 01000010 10001010 01001100 01101000 01000110 

_Surprisingly, the explosion didn’t destroy everything._

_Ogami likely wanted to ensure that his creation couldn’t just die like that. Not by a simple force of nature like fire, at least. Even if he practically self-destructed._

_Besides a few still relatively well-preserved mechanical parts, a small data chip lies, untouched and unscratched. It’s impressive, really, how it could survive through all of this._

_How he could survive through all of this._

_Kaito has to admit to himself that he can’t quite shake the feeling that his other self was alive, that he began being real the moment he went beyond the uncanny valley and had learnt how to copy the high schooler more accurately._

_The moment Kurobot absorbed even the last bits of Kaito’s memories, he adapted, became real. He was real. And now he’s gone._

_Gone, but not quite dead._

_With a sigh, KID picks up the memory chip, a wince following soon after. It’s still burning hot._

_He nearly drops it._

_Quickly, it vanishes in his suit’s pocket, alongside a few other parts that don’t seem quite as broken as the others - at least from what he can tell with his limited knowledge about robotics - and he searches the rubble for Kurobot’s target._

_Soon enough, Kuroba is able to recover it, scribbling a hasty little note for his most beloved Inspector, just in the nick of time. A few seconds later, and he would have been caught._

_To my dear Nakamori-keibu,♡_

_Tonight's events weren't my work._

_That's why I'll return the jewel to you._

_Sorry for the inconvenience._

_Your Kaitō KID ♡_

11010010 11011100 11000011 11001000 11010010 11011100 11000011 11001000 

With shaking hands, he picks up the data chip, turns it around a few times, his fingers carefully tracing its shape. It's still here. Thank god it's still here. **He's** still here.

He is practically holding Kurobot's heart and mind in his hands - his **soul** , if you so will.

In keeping it with him, he ensured the other's survival.

It is a calming thought, he finds, and he slowly, slowly calms down. Enough. Kaito has waited long enough. At this point, he practically has to bring him back - not only for his own conscience, but also because it simply is the right thing to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, the 1's and 0's in this fic all have meanings. ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡
> 
> And I know I always say this, but comments and kudos would be extremely appreciated! (─‿‿─)♡  
> I promise that the future chapters won't be as focused on the manga as this one.  
> Just had to make sure that everyone knows where we're standing.ｏ(＞＜；)○
> 
> So please, do comment and leave kudos! That's literally how I get my serotonin! (*¯ ³¯*)♡


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a description of something at the end of this chapter that may not suit everyone. . .  
> I don't consider it too graphic, which is why I'm not tagging it yet (or spoiling it) but,  
> should anyone feel like it is, please do tell me and I'll change it.

By the time morning arrives, Kaito hasn't slept even one more minute. Instead, he practically tore his workshop apart, looking for anything useful whatsoever, and placed them all neatly on a tray. He's gonna do this, alright. He just needs a little help.

"Jii-chan, remember how you told me that I'd meet that inventor friend of yours in 'due time'? I think that time has come."

There's a long pause, and Kuroba isn't quite sure whether it's because he called his assistant at barely even six in the morning or due to the nature of his request.

"Are you sure, Kaito-botchama?"

"I'm sure."

He had to be.

Two years. Two entire years, and he's done next to nothing to bring back Kurobot, who so desperately wanted to be human, who so desperately wanted to be alive. If he doesn't change that now, he never will.

"Say, how familiar are they with robotics?"

This time, there's less hesitation, his assistant likely just needing a moment to ponder his question before he gives an answer.

"It's not his forte, though he did create bath helper robots in the past. Botchama, what are," but before Kōnosuke can finish, Kuroba interrupts him.

"Perfect. I've got something I’d like to show him soon, if possible."

01000111 11100001 01101110 11101101 11011100 11000011 11001000 01101111 01011000 01000110 

No way. The Professor Jii had been talking about all this time turned out to be none other than Agasa Hiroshi who, coincidentally, is also the very same inventor of Kudō's gadgets.

That's gotta be a lie, right?

There's no way that this is true, that his life is really such a shit show and coincidences like these just keep piling up without Kaito being able to stop them. Where's the hidden camera?

But by the looks of it, Agasa is not going to magically disappear in front of him and turn into someone else anytime soon. He's disguised himself as the guy before, for crying out loud!

"So, what is it you want me to invent?" The Professor has the audacity to ask, as if there's nothing strange about this whole situation, and even smiles at him.

"A robot that looks like me."

Hiroshi laughs and shakes his head, the smile on his face only growing in size.

"Sorry, sorry. You just reminded me of Shinichi- ah, Kudō Shinichi, my neighbour. He asked me the very same thing before. But if I could create something like that, don't you think I would be a billionaire by now?"

Somehow, it doesn't surprise Kaito one bit that the Great Detective, with his previous little (heh) predicament, would ask Agasa for something like this. 

With a perfectly calm and neutral expression, the high schooler pulls out the card, as well as some blueprints, and holds them towards the Professor.

"Would this help?"

Agasa blinks at him, genuinely perplexed by this turn of events, and accepts the sheets of paper. He mutters something about having to take a look at them first, but given the change of his expression with each turning of the pages, Kuroba is sure he'll be able to do **something** with this.

It's not like the Phantom Thief hadn't looked into it before. He's too curious for that. Not as much as any of his detectives, of course - he does love a good unsolved mystery - but if something genuinely catches his interest, is genuinely important to him, then he'll take his time.

Looking into the contents of the chip, on a more basic level, was easy. Apparently, Ogami didn't want his little invention to just disappear, should he himself be unable to repair it for whatever reason, and thus he left some of his blueprints easily accessible for anyone with enough skill to find them.

The true issue was digging deeper than that, because even with Kaito's limited knowledge about robotics, he was able to tell that this wouldn't solve all his problems. They'd have to dig deeper, have to decode the data, perhaps even start from scratch at some points.

There's no telling what is and what isn't saved in his doppelganger's data, after all.

Kaito just hopes it's enough for a start.

After all, he hardly had the time to think about saving the documents and blueprints Ogami had laid out on his table - at the time, all he could think about was making it out of his lab alive, not ensuring he could create a robot version of himself in the future.

Jii, for his part, doesn't ask any questions. He likely understood why Kaito was doing this the moment he saw the chip - it's not like Kuroba ever made a secret out of having kept it, and his ally and father figure must be more than aware of the toll all of this has taken on Kaito.

Finally, Agasa lifts his head, a serious expression on his face.

"There are weapon schematics."

Right, **_that_ **.

"You can keep those at a minimum."

"I'm also not certain how legal all of this is," the Professor tries, seeming uncertain despite his obvious desire to start working on the android right away.

"It can't be any more legal than aiding and abetting Kaitou KID."

That seems to shut him up.

Or, at the very least, Kaito's flat look must have done the trick.

The poor guy probably didn't expect him to just outright confess to being KID, or rather to knowing very well what the other is doing.

For all Kuroba knows, Hiroshi might have thought that he is not the real deal up until now; he definitely must have known that Jii was handing his inventions to KID - Agasa can't be **_that_ **oblivious, in the end, not when he's seen KID in action before. If the inventor thought he was just some kid Jii brought along, he definitely must know the truth now.

But Kaito is serious about all of this, so he can't risk this going wrong. Even if that means revealing his identity to one more person.

Besides, Jii seems to trust Agasa, and a friend of Jii's is practically a friend of Kaito's, right?

He could keep Kudou's secret, so keeping Kuroba's should be easy. Especially so since revealing that he's been helping a criminal all along should not bode well for the Professor. Which reminds him. . .

"You don't have to help me, of course. I just wonder how people would react to finding out just who provided me with my gadgets."

It's unfair, and the young magician doesn't actually want to blackmail him, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

To his surprise, Agasa just laughs, wholeheartedly, and actually accepts the gamble.

Kaito likes his Gramps' friend, he decides.

11000111 10100011 10111001 11010111 11101100 10100100 01101110 00010001 01010011 01000110 01110100 01100111

Calling the Professor's workplace messy would be an understatement, though Kaito isn't going to judge him. Some people find comfort in chaos, and as long as Agasa is able to keep his other rooms clear - fair enough.

The little lady wouldn't let him get away with a dirty house anyways, that's for sure.

(Hopefully, he won't have to see her anytime soon. He'd prefer to keep his appearance a secret from her altogether, if at all possible. She’s just one more of Shinichi’s scary friends he doesn’t necessarily want to face off with, okay.)

It's not much, but Kaito hands over the parts he **_did_ ** keep from the original bot, which, according to Agasa, should speed up the process. Kaito really doesn't understand the specifics behind all of this, especially considering he doesn't even understand the sheets of paper he printed out in the first place.

But hey, a win is a win.

From what he has gathered, though, the skeleton itself wouldn't be much of an issue, most of the plans for that being fully in-tact. By excluding the weapons, they're also making his job a little easier, as these supposedly were most of the blueprints not freely available.

The thing that causes Kuroba the most anxiety, though, is the absolute requirement for the Professor to take a look at the memory chip.

It's one thing to share your memories, your innermost thoughts, with an android clone of yourself. Letting someone who is practically a complete stranger look into your head - your sixteen year old self's head - however, is a different matter altogether.

It absolutely makes his skin crawl. Kaito **_himself_ ** doesn't even remember what he was thinking about when he was sixteen - probably something he could slap himself for now, he's sure.

While Professor Hiroshi Agasa begins checking off a list of what he might need and the things he already has, Kuroba takes a look through his workshop. There's a lot of scraps lying around - mostly inventions and improvements for said inventions that the thief has seen before.

Like those trusty little glasses Conan used to wear - and Shinichi still wears at times, like a reminder of who he used to be, even if he long since replaced those with a new model of his wristwatch - and that scary belt he still wears.

There's also his own turbo engine scooter - funny how Agasa decided to provide both, him and his rival, with essentially the same item - and what must be his card gun.

He can barely stop himself from taking it in his hands and- **_yep_ **, definitely a card gun. If it weren't, he'd just shot a hole in Agasa's wall.

Okay, technically speaking, he **_still_ **kind of did that, though it's more like a scratch than a hole itself. It's not as bad!

The most surprising part, however, is the little sleeping RZ-04 among all of Hiroshi's other scraps. He'd always wondered what Jii did with the other ones, and apparently, handing one - or more? - over to his _'inventor friend'_ made it on the list. 

Hiroshi clears his throat, leaving Kaito with a slightly startled expression, though no other physical sign of what had just transpired. Must be time to open Pandora's jar, then. Gee, what fun.

Thankfully, the Professor didn't want to look at anything without Kaito's approval, sensing that there might be. . . rather private data to be found. 

**{Enter Access Key}**

It takes them 20 minutes, but they manage to hack into Kurobot's system.

Kaito’s copy had been designed to analyse the psychology and behaviour of humans, and was meant to be able to reconstruct, predict, and manipulate their actions according to his will. Or rather his creator's will, had he not killed the man whose name was oh so fittingly written in a way that implied Godhood.

But just like Frankenstein, this creator, too, had found an early end by the hands of his very own creation. 

It takes them a lot of digging until Hiroshi manages to find more hidden files, such as a backup on how to replicate Kurobot's skin. He soon finds, however, that the data is not complete. Ogami must not have been able to update his reports.

They also stumble upon another issue: Kurobot's programming makes it impossible to overwrite certain codes. Overwriting any of the data sequences that were formerly Kuroba Kaito's memories would risk putting the android back into a pre-data absorption state.

"In other words: If we take away any of the memories I share with him, and we do it incorrectly, we run the risk of. . . **_actually_ **killing him."

 _Great_.

Just his luck.

_'Guess I'll simply have to think of him as my twin brother, then.'_

10110100 01001000 01101010 01000100 00011011 01100000 01010001 01001100 10001011 01100110 01000100 01011111 00000010 00001010

_Returning to school after everything that had transpired was strange, as Kaito found out. While he was trying to act nonchalant and happy, as if none of those traumatising events had ever occurred, even greeting Aoko casually, she just blushed and ran away._

_"What's with her?" He mutters, watching her pull out a book to distract herself from him._

_Seconds later, his classmates begin throwing confetti around and opening a celebratory kusudama above Kaito's head, a sheet of paper with an Ai-Ai-Gasa drawn on it coming into view._

_Apparently, someone must have made a very elaborate joke, because Kaito could read the words 'Congratulations on your engagement', together with Aoko's and his own name written underneath the umbrella._

_"Mister Hottiness!" Yamada shouts, and someone else whistles, laughter erupting all around._

_It takes him weeks to stop everyone from teasing him, and twice as long for Aoko to forgive the jest he himself hadn't even made._

A loud noise startles Kaito awake from his slumber. He’d fallen asleep on Agasa’s worktable, Jii’s coat placed on his shoulders to keep him warm and comfortable. With a small smile, he slips his arm into it and pulls it closed, then walks up to Agasa to check if he’s alright.

The Professor has made some remarkable progress, he finds, having created racks of molds that he has lain out surprisingly neatly, given the way the rest of his workshop looks. 

He also cleaned up the parts Kaito was able to salvage, repairing them to the best of his abilities and labelling them according to the blueprints.

Finally, Kuroba's eyes fall on Agasa, and immediately, he feels like throwing up. On the ground in front of him lies a robotic head, mouth frantically opening and closing, as if in a state of panic, and swirling around. Its lack of eye sockets doesn't help.

"Turn it off!" Kaito shouts, sprinting to the head and grabbing hold of it, very nearly losing his fingers in the process. The movements increase, and Kaito realises that it **_must be_ ** panic the other is faced with, and he panics as well.

It doesn't show, not one single bit, but he _is_ in a state of absolute panic. If Kurobot is aware of what is happening right now, then he must be wondering what is happening to him. **_He can't see_ ** . Likely can't even hear. **_Fuck_ **.

It takes him right back to the rooftop. _Shit_.

Agasa removes the chip. **_Dammit_ **.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to see if the head is compatible with," he trails off, clearly seeing how pale the Phantom Thief has gotten and deciding against continuing his talk, "I’m really sorry."

At least Agasa is still okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to update this again solely because last chapter was too focused on the manga. . .  
> It made me feel kind of guilty, so I hope this is an acceptable apology. ｏ(＞＜；)○  
> Especially as I'm not sure when the next update will occur, seeing how I'm still in the middle of exams
> 
> Comments and (Shinichi) kudos would be really appreciated. ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡


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